As most graduating students will tell you, your senior year is punctuated by a series of revelations that you are doing things “for the last time.” It is this sentimentality that motivated me to write this piece in order to cope with watching a tragic ending of my last oua soccer match at Varsity Stadium.
Finishing second in the East in the regular season, the Varsity Blues women’s soccer team had the privilege of hosting the Carleton
Ravens. Having split the regular season matches, playing the third-place Ravens promised to be unnerving at best. After 90 minutes and numerous miracle goal line deflections, I felt a creeping unease that a negative result of the match was somehow an inevitable conclusion to my final season of watching women’s soccer.
For the seniors on the team, heart-wrenching finals seem to be rather typical. In the 2010 playoffs, they lost 1–0 to Nipissing — who scored the game-winning goal in the ninetieth minute. In 2011, Ottawa scored the game-winning goal in the 89th minute. In 2012, Queen’s tied the game 1–1 in the eighty-eighth minute, eventually winning in overtime.
Carleton’s game-winning goal in the one hundred and eighteenth minute this past Sunday was nothing but the exclamation mark of some bizarre poetic tragedy in a season where expectations reached new heights. Slouching back in my seat, dazed and confused, I was convinced that after religiously attending games for the past three years, I somehow deserved a triumphant finale.
As the girls solemnly gathered after the match, I came to my senses — realizing how selfish and minimal my efforts to attend games had been. Whether I was headed to Starbucks for a late night coffee run or crawling to get my caffeine fix in the morning, the Varsity girls always seemed to be practising.
The team’s dedication is reflected in its record. In my three years as a fan, the girls posted an impressive combined record of 30–8–10, including a twelve-game unbeaten streak this year, and nine regular season shutouts. With lots of young talent on the team, next year will surely be just as promising.
The sadder message behind this story is that many students will graduate this year not knowing of the team’s achievements. With 68 teams registered for intramural soccer this fall, there is no shortage of soccer fans at U of T, yet at most games the crowd size is dictated not by the number of U of T fans, but by the size of the parental convoy travelling with the visiting team. The lack of fans doesn’t seem to bother the team, but often embarrasses me in the stands as the referee gets badgered more for calls against the visiting team.
Before returning to my post-season routine of Sunday football, I look forward to having the chance to watch the women’s soccer team play one last time as it competes in the cis national championship, hosted at U of T from November 7–10. Hopefully, this article will rally students to come and watch a remarkable team compete against the best teams in Canada, and inspire a new generation of soccer fans who will enjoy U of T soccer as much as I have.
